Mind control effect

Mind control effects or control effects are effects which allow a player to seize control of an enemy minion. Controlled minions are treated as belonging to the controlling player for all purposes, can be directed to attack its former allies and owner, and will immediately be transferred to the controlling player's side of the battlefield, to the far right of the board.

Mind control effects are some of the most notorious effects in the game, and are most commonly associated with priests.

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Control is generally a permanent state change, and as such cannot be changed through Silences, Return effects or other means. The exceptions to this are Shadow Madness and Potion of Madness, which grant temporary control of a minion through a one-turn enchantment.

If a player activates a mind control effect when their side of the battlefield is already full (i.e. they have the maximum 7 minions), the mind controlled minion will be instantly destroyed. Any Deathrattle that activates as a result of this will trigger as if their opponent still controlled the minion. It is often a good idea for a player to choose to intentionally destroy one of their own minions in order to be able to seize control of one of their opponent's, especially by sacrificing a weak minion in order to gain control of a very powerful one.

A similar effect occurs when a Secret is controlled and there is no "room" for it due to an identical secret being active already: A secret is destroyed instead of stolen if all active enemy secrets are duplicates of friendly ones.[1]

As with summoning effects such as Mirror Image and Feral Spirit, mind controlled minions will always join the board on the far right. Anticipating this can allow for superior placement of minions, important for positional effects. When planning to summon other minions that turn, the player can use the timing of the mind control effect to allow them to determine the final placement of the mind controlled minion. For example, a player with a Shieldbearer already on the board may take control of a Flametongue Totem, before then summoning a Sludge Belcher to the right of it, thereby ensuring the Totem's is placed between the two minions, making the most of its buff.

Minions that have just been mind controlled are normally exhausted for one turn and cannot attack, just as with minions that were summoned that turn.

Shadow Madness and Potion of Madness do not cause its target to be exhausted, allowing it to attack - the effect only lasts until end of turn, and would otherwise be nearly useless.

Charge affects mind control exhaustion just as it affects summoning exhaustion - minions with that ability can attack on the same turn they are mind controlled.

The 6 priest effects are targeted, as is Treachery, while the 3 neutral effects select targets randomly. The conditions to use the neutral effects are harder to meet / more complex than the priest effects, and are more easily played around.

Treachery gives one of the player's minions to the opponent. The rest take something from the opponent.

Mind control effects are present across all card rarities, and are about evenly split between minionabilities and spells.

The spell Mind Control is the most expensive and powerful of the options, as the only one that takes immediate, targeted control of any enemy minion in play without using a combination card. This sets mind control effects apart from other removal abilities like destroy and transform, which are represented by a greater number of cards and are in many cases easier to play than mind control.

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